Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts

There is a Place


It’s funny how some days I wake up and words just roll out of my heart and onto paper yet other days I sit and stare at a blank screen and have no clue what to write. Part of me feels that way too like I’m too tired to have emotions right now. I could easily spend the day staring at the wall drinking coffee. But alas, that’s not going to happen! Too many things are needed in a day. Such is the caregiver’s world, right?

We talk about how busy we are as caregivers and I hesitate using the word “busy.” It has the connotation that what’s being done is not important. Remember when you were in school and you knew the teacher had given you an assignment as busy-work so you’d stay busy so she could do something else? Our work is certainly not that! But the whole world is busy like that.

For caregivers, and many non-caregivers too, there are so many tasks that have to be done in a day, it’s overwhelming. Plus, many of us work either at a traditional job or online and have additional requirements and tasks to complete in a day. Does it sometimes feel so pressing you can’t even breathe? I know it does for me. I get up in the morning and the list of things I have to accomplish start running through my head.

Today, for me, it looks something like this: finish the four articles for client 1, Chris has to have range of motion today – don’t forget, watching the grands for a couple hours while my daughter is out, another client just sent an urgent task needing to be done by noon, oh yeah, appointment with a possible cleaning lady at 1, yikes! I’ve got to get my room clean, so she doesn’t see it like this…. And that’s how it begins and often how it ends too most days.

But even in the midst of the crazy-busy thoughts, there is a place I can go. If only for a few minutes I can quiet down my anxious thoughts, I can find peace. When I settle myself down and whisper, Lord, I love You. It’s like He sweeps me off my feet again and fills me with supernatural, non-comprehendible peace. And I love it! He never fails to meet me where I am, and He’s not afraid to come into my cra-cray world and scoop me up and provide grace for the moment.

Today, I will purpose to quiet my soul before Him and rest in Him. My meditations will be on how He carries me through these wild-and-crazy days, time after time. I’ll be thankful for His sustaining grace and for how He seemingly miraculously gives this busy heart and mind His peace. I’ll rest in that today and be grateful that He chose to walk this journey through time with me. Will you join me?

Quick Change of Clothes

I don't know about you but lately my days seem overly busy and downright crazy at times. It can be so easy to get carried away in the details of caring for another. And try making one simple change to something as basic as a meal plan, changing a supply order or going with a new company for an aide and a snowball effect of crazy events can begin. There's a reason we can feel like we have too many irons in the fire. We do. But they are all necessary in order to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Caregivers have days where we are just tired. It does not change the long list of chores we have to accomplish for the day, but we can be tired before we even begin.

It can be easy to get caught up in the world of caregiving and forget about ourselves. We sort of wear this caregiver's mantle because we need to. We can be that take-charge-kind-of-person it takes to get things done. Who else is going to do it, right?

This morning when I arose I thought about how tired I was before the day even got started. In my daily devotions, I found myself in Isaiah 61. There were several phrases that caught my eye today.

comfort all who mourn
giving a garland instead of ashes
oil of gladness instead of mourning
mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting

I paused and thought about just these phrases in the first three verses. Honestly, I wondered if I could have some insteads. Garlands, gladness and praise sounds good to me! My thoughts sort of landed on that last one, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. 

We are the same person we were before we became a caregiver; but it's important to remember that before we are a caregiver, we are a child of God. Today, I decided to take off my caregiver mantle for a little bit and put on a mantle of praise.

It's as easy as it is difficult to praise God. If you don't know where or how to begin, just think about the things He's done and tell Him "good job!" Even in our crazy lives there is something to be thankful for - I like to start there. Just take a moment or two to express your thanks to Him. It will change your perspective and lighten your heart.

Today I will meditate on Him and His great works in my life and in the lives of others. I will intentionally find ways to praise and thank God. My thoughts will be on His greatness rather than my weakness. I will imagine I have on a mantle of praise today. Will you join me?

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...